Post-Game Quotes

Opening statement:
"I'm proud of our team. Obviously, we shot the ball well and things look really pretty when the ball is going in the basket like that. I thought we shared it well, evidenced by our high number of assists. Fairly low number of turnovers and a lot of guys got in on the action once again so I was pleased with our effort. "

On adjusting from Maddie Manning's injury:
"Well, there are changes. You have to absorb, obviously. But you play the hand you're dealt. I thought everybody responded tonight, nobody felt sorry for themselves, everyone got lost in the competition and made one another better and everybody just has to be a little bit better version of themselves. The ceiling is really high for this team and I thought you could tell tonight that we had a very productive week in Hawaii. That has nothing to do with who we were playing or any of that. We, as a group, were just better together than we had been previously. I applaud them for their attention to detail, their discipline, and their mindsets. "

On if she has ever had a team with fewer than nine active players:
"Yeah, in 2003 I don't even know if we had eight [players] honestly. I remember it was crazy. It just happens and you play the hand you're dealt."
On Nicole Kornet's performance:
"She did a good job. She practices extremely well. I don't know if it's in the water at Liberty High School or what, but these guys know how to practice. She's attentive; she learns. When you tell her one thing she takes care of that one thing. She might make two other mistakes, that's alright with me, she doesn't make that same mistake again. That's a learner and a competitor. She earned the right to be there and did a really good job. Obviously productive, she's going to make three's; that's never a question. She can score. But I thought she improved and really worked on being a better defender. That and blocking out are the things that are going to keep her out there."

On Whitney Hand's role in the offense:
"She's become our utility. In all honesty the 4 position on the floor is incredibly important. Caton Hill was probably the best forward we ever had and Phylesha [Whaley] probably would have been except we had to play her at 5 all the time, but that 4, man, is the important cog in what is going on. What made Caton so good was her mental toughness and her inner ability to shoot the three. Whitney is very similar; it's just we thought of Caton as a post player and you think of Whitney as a perimeter player. They both can shoot it and their size is not that different. There are good things that can come from putting Whitney at 4. She's very physical, she's tough in the post, she's smart, she plays with her feet, anticipates, keeps the ball out of the area where she would have trouble guarding it. Flip side of Whitney being a 4 is that somebody's 4 is going to have to guard her and that's a handful."

On upcoming matchup with Marist:
"They are very well-coached. (Head coach) Brian [Giorgis] does an incredible job. They move well without the basketball as anyone we play against and that includes the big dogs. They understand angles and momentum and spacing and timing, all the fundamentals that make an offense click."

Senior G Whitney Hand

On having to play multiple positions:
"I'm good with it. I'm whatever they need me to be, even if that's guarding a 6-foot girl. It's doable. We have backside help and our defense is formed around that. I know that I'm capable and that's where I'm needed right now."

On playing together as a team:
"In Hawai'i we were working on having a solid foundation of competing on every possession and playing hard on every possession, and then comes the fundamentals and then comes the improvement on offense and defense. I think that we started building that in Hawai'i and today was a better all-around game."

Junior G Aaryn Ellenberg

On working on other parts of her game:
"Scoring is something I do, but sometimes I feel like that is the only thing I'm known for. I want to improve in other areas too. Playing defensively is something that I'm trying to focus on, just being aware and attentive the whole time."

On having balance:
"It makes it a lot easier when everyone else is scoring and creating and it's not falling all on my shoulders or Whitney's shoulders. It loosens everything up."

Freshman G Nicole Kornet

On tonight's performance:
"When you make shots, it always makes things easier. It was just fun tonight and we played well and we could tell that we had fun."

On her first start: "I was pretty pumped about it. It's not the way you want to start with Maddie (Manning) going down, but you take what you get and I was excited."

On added pressure:
"I didn't feel any pressure. You never know when something will happen in the blink of an eye and you have to be ready."

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